 So thank you everybody for joining especially Alex it's good to see you again even though you're a little square on my screen. So I'll just start with an introduction of the committee work, and I'll list off the committee members, and then I'll turn it over to you Alex to introduce yourself and your organization. And then we can just start jumping into discussion. Does that work for everybody. Awesome. Alright, so for everybody online. Welcome to an information gathering session for the committee on ocean acoustics education and expertise. We've had multiple information gathering sessions on other topics. Pirate education, ocean acoustics education, early career folks and a missing one workforce development. And so we had one on outreach also and Alex you weren't able to attend that that general outreach meeting so we wanted to make some time to speak with you individually because you come from a sector and organization that wasn't represented on the outreach information gathering panel. So that's sort of the background and us wanting to pick your brain about what is going well and what we could do better as a community in terms of ocean acoustics outreach from an energy sector perspective. So that's really the background of why we're all here today. I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Jen mixes old. I'm the chair of the committee. And I am from the University of New Hampshire where I am the director for the Center for acoustics research education. In order to be brief, I'm just going to run down the names and affiliations of the different committee members. We've got Andrea on wireless from Penn State University. Art bagger from MIT. Lisa huddling from Idaho's education. From the University of Washington. Carolyn Rupo from USGS. From the University of Rhode Island and Preston Wilson from the University of Austin, Texas. Most of our committee members are online today and this is being recorded for both the public and for other committee members that aren't online. So if you don't see someone's little face in the square right now. You'll have access to this video a little bit later. Alex, I think you've already been presented the statement of task for this particular committee and outreach really falls into number four exploring strategies to one raise the profile and value of careers and ocean acoustics, including education training workforce development recruitment and retention. And so we're really going to focus on those sort of outreach topics today, not research. And then that was the only other slide I had so I just wanted to keep this I'll leave this up there for just a minute or two so other people can read it from the public. And with that, I'm going to turn this over to you Alex for an introduction of you and your organization do you have slides to share. I do yes. Okay, then let me stop sharing. Here we go. All right, let me see. Share that. And hopefully you'll get the right screen if not please do let me know too many monitors. Hold on. I just moved so I have reconfigured my entire desk and now I'm trying to figure out my setup once again. Oh my goodness. Okay, hold on let me start over. However, if you just get to slide view if you don't want to do presenter we can still see your slides perfectly from before. This should work. Do we have it now. Nope. Just you. Huh. I guess I have to click share if I want to share. Sorry about that. Yeah, I am my family just moved up to Wisconsin this last weekend and so we're still kind of figuring out the the ins and outs of our desk setups because we've just been back to work for a few days. So thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate you making time for me. I was on parental leave while we had the last meeting and so the next generation of women in science is currently in daycare. So I really appreciate you having some time for me this morning. I am the scientific director for the energy alliance. Some of you may be familiar with us and our previous iteration of as the IGC we rebranded to the energy alliance in 2022. Just to update the name of the organization to something that better aligned with what we actually do IGC had become somewhat outdated. So we are the global trade alliance for the energy geoscience industry so our focus is on the exploration activities that come prior to any sort of energy development. What makes energy unique from some of the other energy geoscience trade associations is that we have number one a global focus so we work all over the world in country wherever we're needed. And we also are the only organization that has a full time scientist on staff in order to advise on issues related to the environment and specifically sound in the marine environment. Our governing members you may be familiar with so these are the organizations that conduct offshore seismic surveying and whatever form that may take. And we also work closely with the broader energy industry so here you see our industry partners. Primarily our focus has been hydrocarbon development but we are also beginning to branch out working with some of the offshore wind development and our intent is to also focus on carbon capture as that gets on board in the US so anywhere that there's geoscience involved energy is engaged. I like to show this graphic when I talk to groups because I think it's important to emphasize that energy and whatever form it looks like right now generally involves something going into out of or through the ground. And if that is something that we need to do then there is a geoscience component involved and I think it's quite obvious it's a short step from geoscience into a need for a strong foundation and acoustics so this is really something that's going to continue to be a challenge. 40% of the world does not have access to clean fuels for cooking and 13% of the world does not have access to energy or electricity at all as of right now. So I think it's easy for us to take it for granted sitting here in the Western Hemisphere the lights come on when we hit the switch. But really energy access is one of the most important aspects of lifting communities out of poverty providing access to education. And that energy need is going to continue to increase so by 2050 we're expecting total energy use to increase by about 50%. And that means that we need to look into a mix of energy resources whether that includes natural gas hydrocarbons nuclear renewables other alternatives. And of course carbon capture is going to be a part of that to in order to offset some of those emissions. So the reason why I'm so focused on acoustics and the importance of education is that we need to have folks that are able to look at a graphic like this and this is a seismic survey signal a single pulse. And look at that and say okay what does it mean for graphic like this. And these are two sectors that generally do not talk to each other very often so we need to be able to translate the acoustics piece and the propagation of sound in the aquatic environment. And the potential impacts to marine life and so that is somewhere where there is there's quite a gap right now and we're not seeing a focus on education in that specific area so I know for me I had a background in fisheries and a marine mammal behavior. But I learned a lot of the acoustics on the job and so I think given you know we've seen that the increase in energy demand is coming we've seen that the increase in global population is coming. And there's a real opportunity here to include that acoustics education piece and also the environmental education piece and those two communities have struggled to speak the same language at times and that really makes it difficult for us to accomplish what we need to accomplish as a scientific community but also as an industry. And so I'm very pleased to see that there is a focus with this committee on that and then I guess I'll just leave it there and we can jump into any questions and discussion. Awesome thank you very much Alex. Do you want to continue to share your slides so you refer back to them or do you want to stop sharing so we can we can probably stop it I can pop them up again if you need them. All right so I could start us off and then committee members might have other questions that they want to ask specifically either on a different topic of outreach and education or training or following up on what I ask so. Yes, I continually want to call it IAGC so I'm trying to make that transition. It took me about a year to get there so I can totally understand. So, as you are well aware, acoustics is a highly interdisciplinary topic. And so outreach is is quite interesting because as you said you did a lot of on the job training and learning in order to do your job well. And so I was wondering what does your organization or is there anything that your organization does to target outreach opportunities, knowing that this is interdisciplinary so where do you go for that and what do you feel has been most successful for your organization in reaching a broad audience in a highly highly highly interdisciplinary area. Even if it's an acoustic related you may have a really good example for something not ocean acoustics related at all but still a great outreach strategy and we're definitely wanting to learn from other interdisciplinary topics that may be doing outreach in ways that we can learn things from. Yeah, I think one of the most important lessons I've learned doing this job I've been here for about five years is that you don't win friends with science. That can be a tough pill to swallow for those of us who like to have the facts and the figures and see the numbers. So the key is the vast majority of the general public is kind of put off when they they're bombarded with information that they don't understand and so being a good translator is really critical to ensuring that folks are engaged and interested so we are typically not engaged at the academic level our focus is more on engaging with the general public. The key of the outreach that we do relates to community engagement and government engagement and we've seen governments all over the world the capacity for understanding acoustics and understanding the effects on the environment varies greatly we'll see areas like the US areas like Australia and a number of places in the EU where regulators are very competent they understand this and they have folks on staff who are acousticians and then there are other places that are developing countries I'm actually headed to Uruguay next month, where they don't necessarily have a firm background and how the acoustics and environment pieces interact. I think that's been the most important part for us is ensuring that we're meeting people where they are, and providing that engagement on a level that's appropriate for the audience and so the way that we'll talk to a government regulator that's well versed in acoustics and environmental impacts is going to be very different from the way that we'll talk with the general public. Another piece of that too is also ensuring that we're getting out and having these public facing conversations so whether that might mean you know we're, we're supporting a general outreach meeting we're actually stepping into this public engagement meetings. It might mean that we're doing things like documentary or news interviews to provide some foundation and some facts. I think the most important piece for reaching students though is that people just don't know that these opportunities exist. I certainly didn't know when I was a graduate student and that's that's a message that I try to drive home whenever I talk to graduate students now is that it's just not sufficient to be good at one thing anymore. Our field has just become increasingly interdisciplinary and so if you can marry those two pieces and have that background in acoustics but also the environmental piece. That makes you a really attractive prospect for job opportunities and as we start looking into the future when we have more environmental impact reviews to conduct. More of these types of public engagement meetings and we need scientists who can act as translators who can say okay you know, yes I understand the technical specifics but I can also bring that to a level that the general public can understand. That puts you in a really powerful position as a scientist to be an advocate for an industry that's going to be increasingly important as we move forward. Awesome. Thank you. You echoed one of the same sort of areas where we need to do better, which is you called it translators, a previous outreach information gathering panel conversation called it science communications. And so it's really the same thing you know translating that and you had a great point where people are at their level and that's important. So, your your answer reinforces the answer that we continue to hear other committee members questions. Carolyn has her hand up go ahead Carolyn. Hi, Alex thanks for that overview. I besides my science of the USGS I do all of our marine compliance and work with NSF extensively on the seismic components so some of what you guys encounter are the same issues that we encounter. So that that actually you started to actually allude to this and what you were saying you were talking about this different kind of outreach which is the outreach to the public to help them understand without getting into the science the facts behind things. One thing that has concerned us and I was an academic for a long time has concerned us in the community for a long time is that doing active acoustics work. I mean it's always constantly seems threatened to the people who are involved in it in the suit for the students to, you know, even 20 years ago, PhD students were saying why should I do this, because everyone's trying to shut me down right. So one thing I'd like to ask you is, in terms of the kinds of outreach that can both help. I'm not trying to get a job security issue here but I'm saying we do need acquisitions, and people are afraid their work is getting shut down. So instead of being reactive, I guess one thing be interesting to hear from you is how one can be proactive with outreach about what ocean acoustics is about how it's important, etc, and the timing of that and sort of some of the strategies. So a we don't get shut down, and, and be, you know we can further what mankind needs with with wall respecting the environment. That's certainly one of those places where you know I'm sure on your side working in trying to ensure that you have access to those authorizations it can feel like everyone's trying to shut you down for me working on the regulatory side I call that job security. And that is one of those places where you know the community is just there's there's a lack of information and there's also an abundance of misinformation about what acoustics is. So if you use the word proactive that's been my buzzword since I started at energy I actually put the word proactive into a name of a program that we launched a couple of years ago because that's something I've been trying to reinforce with this industry. I think for for a number of years we've seen the energy industry be highly reactive. There was this impression of well we're going to do what we need to do, and it's okay if people don't like it, and we're just not going to get out there in the public and expose ourselves to risk. And that's still something we see particularly with the large energy operators is they are extremely risk averse. They don't want that exposure and so that's where organizations like energy will come in. We really view our objective as being those science communicators for the broader community that you know those those companies that maybe aren't willing to take those risks have some cover, but also that they can point to an expert. I, you know, it is a challenge because we're living in a society right now where we're seeing kind of this death of expertise there's a mistrust of scientists and experts. And that challenge is working with some of these environmental NGOs that are willing to promulgate let's call it misinformation or disinformation in order to meet whatever those end objectives might be. So we see quite a lot of misinformation around what seismic surveys are because that's you know that's the easiest way to shut down energy development you shut down exploration energy development follows very quickly behind it. And there are some comments like seismic blasting is louder than you know whatever airplane taking off you know it's and it's just incorrect it's simply just incorrect. And so that's one of the most important places where I think the scientific community needs to get engaged is we need to be the ones that are out there in the community. We need to recognize that we're going to have to have some hard conversations we are going to have to talk to people that we don't agree with. And I think the key in this role is really building bridges with some of those organizations so trying to sit down at the same table with people that we don't agree with and have a conversation. That collaborative mindset has been very constructive in the past and of course you know there are always people who just are not going to be interested in hearing what you have to say and you have to be comfortable with living with that. I know that we have that collaborative and interdisciplinary mindset I think the more constructive we can be but it certainly is a challenge. And actually energy has a communications a public outreach campaign launching I think next month. And it's going to be called energy starts with me and so the focus is going to be kind of humanizing the energy geoscience workforce it's actually going to be interviewing folks that are engaged in those projects day to day and focusing on why we believe that energy access is so important to ensuring that the world has you know a high standard of living how we do this to ensure that it's done in an environmentally sustainable and safe way. You know I tell people all the time I'm a marine biologist I didn't go to graduate school for all of those years to try and kill whales and dolphins with the seismic survey if I thought that's the way that this worked I wouldn't be here. So my job is to ensure that we're doing this in the most environmentally sustainable way for the long term but I also consider myself a pragmatist and that means sometimes you know we have to have these hard conversations around look. Oil and gas is going to be a part of the energy mix that's just a reality and I frankly I would personally rather it be coming from somewhere like the US Gulf of Mexico where it's tightly regulated. Emissions are low per barrel rather than importing from the Middle East and so these are the types of conversations we have to have it can be a challenge for sure because these are not you know. These are not sound bites about seismic blasting killing the whales and we're starting to see some of that rhetoric off of the East Coast as well related to offshore wind. And so really just that education piece and being willing to have those tough conversations is what's going to be most important in the future. I love that you identified that one of the outreach components that we may not have highly highlighted or identified in previous outreach information sessions is the sectors or the discussions where people don't agree. With ocean the ocean accrued community and so that that's a really important part of outreach that again thank you for highlighting that that's not something that usually comes into my mind when I think about outreach I think of students and the public and so forth but not people who oppose that topic so that's that's an important sector or component of outreach that often gets overlooked that we're going to make sure that we have to capture in our outreach sessions. Yeah I can be tempting to slip into that echo chamber of I'm talking to people who get it you know you kind of understand but the reality is some of those conversations that I've had with people that I strongly disagree with have been some of the most productive conversations that I think I've ever had you know and it's it's important I think and there's a slip away from having those kinds of conversations and having a mutual respect with people that you don't agree with on a scientific basis and I think that's where our community can really set an example of look we can we can disagree we can still be civil we can still get along and we can still work towards constructive solutions and so I think the more that we can emphasize those conversations and share that with the public the more positive the overall outcome will be for everyone. Yeah that's a form of outreach we don't often hear and it really moves in nicely to the next topic is outreach related to DEI, because that that outreach with people you don't agree with is a form of diversity in your outreach going outside what's comfortable. So I kind of like that that sort of role into the DEI effort of outreach. Any other committee member questions. I know we don't have a whole wait for four minutes oh my gosh we're just talking about. Well I think on the DEI friend I just want to emphasize again the importance of mentorship. I have been incredibly fortunate I have had wonderful female mentors at every stage of my career and I would not be here. And so I think you know if we all have that mentality of a community as look once I get a leg up my first priority is to turn around and reach a hand back down. Making time to mentor those who are coming up and learning is just so critical because having a mentor that understands where you're coming from understands the challenges that you're facing. To me it was partly as you know a woman in science coming up as a young woman it was in a to an industry that's heavily male dominated that that was a challenge and so having people who have been through it. To talk through some of those questions is incredibly useful and so I would just encourage, even if it's not necessarily a formal mentorship program, having those conversations with with students is incredibly important. Preston, I'm going to give you the last question here. Wow, thank you. That was a great set of slides I really enjoyed seeing like, okay here's the sound field and here's the hearing thresholds, thinking about mapping those over so I think it was a good example. My question is about kind of a specific kind of outreach so. Are you all trying to kind of find people who want to make these processes better for the environment is that part of your outreach so you know, let me make a finer description of what I'm asking. You know, there are ways we could potentially mitigate environmental concerns by modifying, like surveys and other things that we do to kind of minimize exposure, while still getting the information we want so. Are you all trying to find people who would not have normally wanted to work, saying seismic surveys, but if they can do so to improve minimizing environmental impact that they might is that something you guys try to do. Yeah, thanks for that question press and that's that's a really good one to end on I think so we haven't been super engaged in finding people that don't want to work in seismic and trying to encourage them to come in. But a piece that we have been focused on for sure is ensuring that our membership understands the importance of environmental stewardship. We have a comprehensive environmental impact assessment guide that we publish it's about 450 pages and it walks through how to minimize or mitigate potential impacts from surveys, and step by step basically so I think that's where sometimes there's this confusion of well we're just going to do and that's all that matters but the focus is always on look if you can separate the sound source from the from the receiver that's always the best option. And so if we know that there's a time that there's a sensitive population there. We try and plan around that it may not always be possible because it may be you know there's there's operational reasons that you can't work in a certain season. But that's always the preference is minimize those interactions as much as possible and so I think that's where as a community we can focus on sharing that that is something that we do because I think maybe there's a perception that that's not how this works. But I think if we can share that with the public that you know this is something that our industry prioritizes and we understand the need for minimizing interactions for providing these comprehensive in depth mitigation measures and also recognizing that planning is the most important step of mitigation that in the field mitigation is the last resort. If we're able to plan around certain sensitive periods, then that's always going to be the preference and so I think our industry could do a better job of championing what we are already doing to encourage folks who maybe are hesitant or thinking that that's not something that's happening to participate in those conversations with us. Thank you. Before I finish up Alex, do you have any last thoughts that you want to share with the committee. Oh gosh no pressure. I would just like to end on the note of it's, it's encouraging to see that this is something that's being taken up this is something that I have been struggling with recently. I'm looking to bring on a new hire to somebody who can support me because I just do not have hours in the day, but right now I'm a department of one, and that skill set can be extremely difficult to find somebody who understands the acoustics well enough and who understands the environment well enough to speak both languages and work both ways but then there's also a personality piece that that comes into it. And so I think that focus on those interpersonal skills, those soft skills, learning to build relationships is something that we really need to encourage in our student populations. I know as a student I was so averse to networking and they're still a part of me that goes ah too much socializing. But building those relationships is really how you build rapport and from there you can have those constructive conversations and so emphasizing that with our student community is going to be really important moving forward. Thank you. I want to finish up to and say, if you, if something comes into your mind later while you're driving home or so forth, please drop an email to myself or any of the committee members that we will share amongst the committee. So, in case you something like pops into your head that you're like, I forgot this please don't hesitate to let us know. And if there is any literature that you could point us to within your organization that you can say hey you know this has really been one of our biggest successful outreach campaigns or efforts or material. Anything that we can have that we can share and archive for the committee would be fantastic. Absolutely. Let me get with our communications director on that because we have lots of public resources that I think might be valuable. That would be great. And we'll take the time to look at those and at least make them available to the public in addition to the written report that we write there isn't an archive of materials for for the public. All everything we do everything we collect is publicly available. And so anything that you have that could be helpful in in this endeavor we greatly appreciate you sharing it. And I very much thank you for your time. I love talking to you all the time you guys definitely have a wide sector of people that you reach both in the industry and outside the industry so I very much appreciate you spending this time with us today. Thanks so much Jen the feelings mutual and if anybody has questions please feel free to shoot me an email is just a Guerrero at energy alliance that work. Sounds great. Thanks so much Alex have a great day. Thank you you too. Bye.